Microsoft Construct 2025 showcased how Microsoft is reimagining the software program growth lifecycle with highly effective new capabilities that redefine what’s doable with AI.
From streamlining enterprise workflows to accelerating scientific discovery, AI brokers are reworking how builders construct and the way companies function.
- 15 million builders are utilizing GitHub Copilot, utilizing options like agent mode and code evaluate to deal with repetitive duties, permitting them to give attention to the enjoyable, inventive components of software program growth.
- Tons of of hundreds of shoppers are utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot to help with analysis, brainstorming, and resolution growth, permitting elevated for effectivity.
- Greater than 230,000 organizations—together with 90% of the Fortune 500—have used Microsoft Copilot Studio to construct AI brokers and automations to enhance productiveness and scale enterprise shortly.
- Greater than 11,000 AI fashions are actually accessible by means of Azure AI Foundry, together with Microsoft-hosted and partner-hosted fashions. This intensive library of AI fashions supplies unparalleled assets for organizations to innovate and scale their AI-powered options.
On this version of FYAI, a sequence the place we dive deep on AI developments with Microsoft leaders, we hear from Yina Arenas, Vice President of Product, Azure AI Foundry, who’s main the work at Microsoft to empower each developer to form the longer term with generative AI utilizing breakthrough fashions and enterprise AI brokers.
On this Q&A, Yina shares her insights on the shifting AI panorama, together with why companies are getting caught within the “proof of idea” section and the way Azure AI Foundry can meet organizations the place they’re and take their AI initiatives to the following degree.
What shifts within the AI panorama are you seeing which are basically altering how individuals—and organizations—construct and scale AI?
We’re seeing a profound shift from AI as a analysis experiment to AI as a core enterprise functionality. What’s thrilling—and difficult—is that organizations are not simply asking, “Can we construct this?” however “How will we construct this responsibly, at scale, and with actual influence?” That shift requires new instruments, new mindsets, and new methods of working throughout groups. At Microsoft, we’re centered on making AI extra accessible and inclusive—so that everybody, from builders to area specialists, can contribute to constructing options that matter. It’s not simply concerning the tech—it’s about empowering individuals to unravel actual issues with AI.
Why is it nonetheless so onerous for companies to maneuver from experimentation to manufacturing with AI—and what wants to alter to unlock that subsequent wave of worth?
Azure AI Foundry is supporting open Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol
Many organizations get caught within the “proof of idea” section as a result of the leap to manufacturing is complicated. It’s not nearly deciding on the fitting mannequin—it’s about integrating it into programs, guaranteeing it’s safe and accountable, and aligning it with enterprise objectives. What’s lacking is a cohesive, end-to-end method that brings collectively the fitting instruments, governance, and collaboration in a developer-friendly surroundings. That’s the place Azure AI Foundry is available in—it’s designed to assist groups not solely transfer quicker however accomplish that thoughtfully by offering a cohesive end-to-end platform and providing traceability throughout prompts, fashions, and runtime habits. We’re making it simpler and fewer complicated for builders to construct apps whereas additionally giving enterprise choice makers the flexibility to see how these apps carry out, measure their ROI, and meet compliance necessities. To unlock the following wave of worth, we have to make AI growth extra collaborative, clear, and outcome-driven.
How does Azure AI Foundry assist bridge that hole—and the way is it completely different from different approaches on the market?
Azure AI Foundry is constructed to fulfill organizations the place they’re—whether or not they’re simply beginning or scaling AI throughout the enterprise. It brings collectively the very best of Microsoft’s AI capabilities from foundational fashions to orchestration and monitoring in a unified platform. What units Azure AI Foundry aside shouldn’t be solely that it’s constructed on a long time of world-class analysis however that it’s constructed with people on the heart, so whether or not you’re an information scientist, product supervisor, engineer, or enterprise chief, our AI options be just right for you. It additionally bakes in accountable AI from the beginning by integrating instruments, from testing to monitoring to governance, that help your complete life cycle.
Who’s Azure AI Foundry constructed for, and the way does it help cross-functional groups—from knowledge scientists to decision-makers—to construct collectively?
Azure AI Foundry: Your AI App and agent manufacturing unit
Azure AI Foundry is designed for anybody seeking to take their AI initiatives to the following degree—whether or not you’re a part of an enormous enterprise, a startup, or a software program growth firm. It gives entry to the main frontier fashions, integrates orchestration frameworks, helps open protocols for multi-agent collaboration, and supplies native observability tooling—all inside a safe, ruled surroundings. Whether or not it’s optimizing name facilities, analyzing knowledge, bettering product searches, or automating workflows, Azure AI Foundry pulls every little thing—fashions, instruments, and brokers—into one user-friendly platform. With instruments like GitHub, Visible Studio, and Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry makes it simple for builders, knowledge scientists, IT professionals, and decision-makers to shorten the journey from concept to manufacturing.
Azure AI Foundry
Design, customise, and handle AI apps and brokers at scale.
The place are you seeing Azure AI Foundry already making an influence—and what sorts of transformation are clients unlocking?
Because the central hub for constructing, orchestrating, and managing AI options, Azure AI Foundry stays the centerpiece of our AI platform technique. It’s now utilized by builders at greater than 70,000 enterprises and software program growth corporations—together with Atomicwork, Epic, Fujitsu, Gainsight, H&R Block, and LG Electronics—to design, customise, and handle their AI apps and brokers. And simply six months in, greater than 10,000 organizations have used Azure AI Foundry Agent Service to construct, deploy, and scale their brokers. Builders are designing brokers that act, purpose, take initiative, and ship measurable enterprise outcomes.
Heineken, for instance, used Azure AI Foundry to construct a multi-agent platform known as “Hoppy” that helps staff entry knowledge and instruments throughout the corporate of their native language. Their implementation has already saved hundreds of hours, lowering duties that after took 20 minutes to simply 20 seconds.
Fujitsu evaluated Azure AI Foundry Agent Service to automate gross sales proposal creation. This boosted productiveness by 67%, letting their groups to give attention to buyer engagement. The AI agent integrates with present Microsoft instruments acquainted to round 38,000 staff, retrieves dispersed data, and lays the muse for broader AI-powered innovation.
Draftwise, a digital native providing an AI-powered contract drafting and evaluate platform, is utilizing leading edge fashions in Azure AI Foundry (Cohere multimodal and AOAI reasoning) to assist streamline the contract drafting course of by integrating with a lawyer’s doc storage system.
What excites you most about what’s subsequent—for Azure AI Foundry, and for a way individuals can reimagine the best way they work and create with AI?
What excites me most about what’s subsequent for Azure AI Foundry is the way it’s unlocking a brand new period of creativity and empowerment—not only for builders, however for everybody. We’re shifting past the concept of AI as a software you employ to AI as a copilot you construct with. Azure AI Foundry helps individuals think about and create brokers that perceive their objectives, adapt to their workflows, and evolve with their wants.
That shift—from writing code to orchestrating intelligence—is profound. It signifies that a product supervisor, a marketer, or a frontline employee can form how AI works for them, without having to be a machine studying skilled. It’s about placing the facility of AI into the palms of the various, not the few.
And what’s most inspiring is that we’re simply getting began. The brokers individuals are constructing right this moment are fixing actual issues—automating complicated processes, accelerating insights, and releasing up time for extra significant work. However the brokers of tomorrow? They’ll be collaborators in creativity, companions in problem-solving, and catalysts for innovation we haven’t even dreamed of but.
That’s the longer term I see—and it’s being constructed proper now, by people who find themselves reimagining what’s doable with AI.
Design, customise, and handle AI apps and brokers at scale
Via leaders like Yina Arenas, Microsoft’s imaginative and prescient for the way forward for AI is each inspiring and deeply human-centered. With platforms like Azure AI Foundry, we’re coming into a brand new period the place AI turns into not only a software, however a real collaborator—empowering everybody, no matter technical experience, to innovate and resolve real-world issues. With Azure AI Foundry, the potential of AI is being unlocked by builders all over the place, sparking a wave of transformation and boundless prospects.
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